Obama’s Controversial Peace Prize leaves questions to be answered

 This past Friday, the country was caught off guard when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Barack Obama. Headlines broke with titles broadcasting shock and awe, to sudden conspiracy. The media hardly hesitated to raise the inevitable why and how questions.  Nipping the heels of his first year in office, how is it that Obama was able to receive such an honor in such a short amount of time in office?

            The nominations for Nobel Peace Prize candidates were due less than two weeks after Obama was inaugurated into his oval office. Obama’s skeptics have been making a variety of arguments, ranging from accusations of a race-influenced decision, to a justly deserved outcome based on exceptional politically achieved peace-making policies.

            On the other hand, as disappointing as it may be to those in opposition of the president, he was not overly pleased with his latest accomplishment. "I looked at his face when he was on TV and confirmed that he would receive the prize and would come to Norway, and he didn't look particularly happy," stated nine-year Nobel committee veteran Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, as reported by Ian MacDougall and Karl Ritter of the Associated Press.

            If one of the judges who voted in favor of him to become this year’s recipient could see this, I think the entire nation could see that Obama was tired of the blinding spotlight the media has been shining on him, following each and every footstep him and his family take.  Obama foresaw the possibilities that the prize would bestow upon him, both positive and negative.

            “So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act,” said former Polish President Lech Walesa, a 1983 Nobel Peace laureate. Later re-gathering his statement, “This is probably an encouragement for him to act. Let’s see if he perseveres. Let’s give him time to act,” said Walesa in an Associated Press report.

            Even so, everyone feels the meaning of statements such as those after hearing the news of the award.  Bloomsburg University students emulated similar feelings towards the president’s achievement.  “He received it for all the wrong reasons, he has said more than he has actually done,” states Mike Stouffer, an Accounting major here at BU.

            “Even though I am a long time supporter of President Barack Obama, I don’t believe he truly deserved it,” said Lauren Ahlers, a Pre-Med student.

            From former leaders to everyday university students, responses to the Nobel have been altogether mixed, but mostly critical of the President. Jay Leno and the Daily Show have poked fun at the accomplishment, but on a universal level many people have been supportive.

            The Nobel Peace Prize seems to serve a more encouraging purpose to the president, letting him know that his achievements: easing tensions in the Middle East, and bringing an age-old feud with Russia to an end, are being noticed and benefiting the world on a larger-scale.